Astronomical polarimetry: new opportunities

Abstract

The information about any astronomical object is derived only from their radiation. The polarized state of radiation yields much more astrophysical information than the intensity of radiation alone.Astronomical polarimetry has been playing a very important role in our understanding about the universe since 1949, after the major discovery made by J. S. Hall andW.A. Hiltner that the light coming from the majority of stars are partially plane polarized. The polarimetric study of any astronomical object provides information about the physical processes occurring in the system and about the interstellar medium in that particular direction. The new generation of large optical and infrared telescopes equipped with adaptive optics, and new technology space telescopes geared up the polarimetric research from the nearby universe to very high redshifts.